June 16, 2020 • 8 mins
In this episode Jeff talks about transitions in ministry, and where the journey has landed him for now. Expounding on a blog post called "Micro Church – Mindsets and Meeting Places" on ChurchPlanting.com, you'll hear encouraging insights for church and ministry leaders serving the Lord and their communities in many different capacities.
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(00:03):
Equipping and encouraging church planters everywhere.This is the Church Planting Today podcast with
Steve Chogrin and Jeff Hoagland. Usefulconversations for those aimed at winning others into
relationship with Christ. Welcome to churchPlanning Today, the podcast of churchplan dot
Com. Churchplan dot Com is forcurrent and future church planners, existing church
(00:26):
leaders, and those wanting to seerenewal within the local church. Hey everyone,
this is Jeff Hoagland. Hope everyoneis doing great. I am by
myself today, but since we skippeda week last week, I really wanted
just to get on here and justspeak at you just a little bit.
And I want to talk about ablog post actually that I posted to church
(00:49):
plan dot Com just a couple weeksback. It's called Mindsets and Meeting Places.
Recently, I've had a change ofduty stations, as we say in
the military towns, and you know, for the longest time I've been a
church planter, and then this lastassignment that I've had, I've stayed for
(01:10):
almost eleven years, and so that'sa long time for a church planner.
In anyways, I have done alittle bit of everything. I started out
in youth ministry and children's ministry,and then I got into church planting,
and then of course I became asenior pastor and stayed for gosh all these
(01:34):
years. And now I am workingas a director of ministry at a large
church, and so that's something newfor me. And so I kind of
started thinking about my blog post thatI wrote, and it's called Mindsets and
Meeting Places. And in this blogpost, I spoke about how some churches
(01:57):
start and they start in houses andcoffee shops, they start in workplaces,
and sometimes, you know, theystart intentionally with the hopes of becoming a
church, and other times, likesome of my prior church plans, they
were just a bunch of friends gettingtogether and doing a Bible study, having
(02:21):
some good coffee and studying the Word, and then they kind of just morphed
into a church. And some ofthose churches were really out of the box
churches. They were outreach based churches, and I love that low overhead and
you know, we could just doso much together. But you know,
(02:43):
one of the questions that I have, especially since I've been working with Steve
Shogren here at church plan dot Com, is what kind of church model is
best. You know, lately,when I say lately, probably over the
last fifteen years years, we've heardpeople calling for a return to the house
(03:04):
church, you know, going backto the Book of Acts, and and
you know what, I think that'swonderful. If you want to do that,
hey, by all means do it, you know. And of course
Francis Chan came out with a bookhere in this past year and a letter
to the churches, and in thatbook basically it was something similar to that,
(03:24):
you know, just a return tobasics or return to simple beginnings.
And again I think that's great.But what about the community churches, you
know, those churches that are biggerthan a house church, but you know,
smaller than a megachurch. And typicwhen I say a community church,
(03:46):
that's anywhere it's from, you know, one hundred to five hundred plus.
And in those churches, man,you know what we need those churches.
And God is moving in those churches. And so if God is moving in
the house church movement or the microchurch movement, and he's moving in the
(04:09):
community churches, what about the megachurches. Well, guess what, the Lord
is working in all three. I'veseen megachurches do so much, not only
for their community, but for theirstate and for their nation. You know,
when crisis happens the megachurch, they'vepositioned themselves in such a way where
(04:30):
they are able to speak into thosesituations, but not just speaking to them,
but actually give in practical ways.I remember a church down in South
Carolina there was there was a needto supply public servants with a certain piece
of gear. And instead of justtalk about it, they just did it.
(04:53):
They went and got these these thesepublic servants exactly what they needed.
So a lot of good things goingon in the megachurches. They are sending
out more people than a lot ofthe other churches when it's sending them out,
sending them out to plant other churches, sending them out into the mission
(05:15):
field, you know, all sortsof great stuff. So my point is
this, guys, and I'm goingto keep it real short for today.
The point is this God is movingin the house church slash micro church realm.
He is moving in the community churches, and he's also moving in the
(05:41):
megachurches. He uses every type ofchurch imaginable. I believe it's his idea.
I believe, you know. Icall them flavors and please don't get
mad me for putting them in thatway. But you know we each or
each of these models have a certainappeal and they will reach somebody. Praise
(06:04):
God for that. Guys, wehave to remember we are team Jesus.
We are on the same team.We're not in competition. Church may look
a little bit different for you,but you know what, here's the main
thing. And as my friend DanyButler says on his radiozation, keep the
main thing the main thing. Andthat's what we need to do when it
(06:24):
comes to church planting, is keepthe main thing the main thing. What
has God called you to do?If He has called you to start a
house church, be obedient. Ifyou know he just told you to start
a church. I just encourage youto take the next step. Don't try
to have it all figured out.A lot of times he won't give you
(06:46):
the entire vision all at one time, but He will give you the next
step. He will direct your steps, and so listen closely. Listen closely,
and then obey fully. And youknow, I am just blessed to
know people in all three of theseareas. But remember this God is working
(07:09):
in all of them, and sobe encouraged. Guys, I'm for you.
God is for you. More importantly, and wherever you find yourself in
the house church movement, in thesmall churches, and that's churches under one
hundred. If you find yourself there, man, I understand that lived in
(07:31):
that space for a long time.Guess what, don't beat yourself up about
that. You are not a failure. You're making a difference. I believe
in you. And again, moreimportantly, God is He's smiling because of
your faithfulness. And so be encouraged. Church planners and pastors and church leaders.
(07:54):
Until next time, God bless you. Keep on keeping on, and
we'll see you on the next podcastof us. You've been listening to the
Church Planting Today podcast with Steve Chagrinand Jeff Hoagland. Be sure to share
and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Connect for free outreach articles, ideas,
and resources at kindness dot com andchurch Planting dot com.
Equipping and encouraging church planters everywhere.This is the Church Planting Today podcast with
Steve Chogrin and Jeff Hoagland. Usefulconversations for those aimed at winning others into
relationship with Christ. Welcome to churchPlanning Today, the podcast of churchplan dot
Com. Churchplan dot Com is forcurrent and future church planners, existing church
(00:26):
leaders, and those wanting to seerenewal within the local church. Hey everyone,
this is Jeff Hoagland. Hope everyoneis doing great. I am by
myself today, but since we skippeda week last week, I really wanted
just to get on here and justspeak at you just a little bit.
And I want to talk about ablog post actually that I posted to church
(00:49):
plan dot Com just a couple weeksback. It's called Mindsets and Meeting Places.
Recently, I've had a change ofduty stations, as we say in
the military towns, and you know, for the longest time I've been a
church planter, and then this lastassignment that I've had, I've stayed for
(01:10):
almost eleven years, and so that'sa long time for a church planner.
In anyways, I have done alittle bit of everything. I started out
in youth ministry and children's ministry,and then I got into church planting,
and then of course I became asenior pastor and stayed for gosh all these
(01:34):
years. And now I am workingas a director of ministry at a large
church, and so that's something newfor me. And so I kind of
started thinking about my blog post thatI wrote, and it's called Mindsets and
Meeting Places. And in this blogpost, I spoke about how some churches
(01:57):
start and they start in houses andcoffee shops, they start in workplaces,
and sometimes, you know, theystart intentionally with the hopes of becoming a
church, and other times, likesome of my prior church plans, they
were just a bunch of friends gettingtogether and doing a Bible study, having
(02:21):
some good coffee and studying the Word, and then they kind of just morphed
into a church. And some ofthose churches were really out of the box
churches. They were outreach based churches, and I love that low overhead and
you know, we could just doso much together. But you know,
(02:43):
one of the questions that I have, especially since I've been working with Steve
Shogren here at church plan dot Com, is what kind of church model is
best. You know, lately,when I say lately, probably over the
last fifteen years years, we've heardpeople calling for a return to the house
(03:04):
church, you know, going backto the Book of Acts, and and
you know what, I think that'swonderful. If you want to do that,
hey, by all means do it, you know. And of course
Francis Chan came out with a bookhere in this past year and a letter
to the churches, and in thatbook basically it was something similar to that,
(03:24):
you know, just a return tobasics or return to simple beginnings.
And again I think that's great.But what about the community churches, you
know, those churches that are biggerthan a house church, but you know,
smaller than a megachurch. And typicwhen I say a community church,
(03:46):
that's anywhere it's from, you know, one hundred to five hundred plus.
And in those churches, man,you know what we need those churches.
And God is moving in those churches. And so if God is moving in
the house church movement or the microchurch movement, and he's moving in the
(04:09):
community churches, what about the megachurches. Well, guess what, the Lord
is working in all three. I'veseen megachurches do so much, not only
for their community, but for theirstate and for their nation. You know,
when crisis happens the megachurch, they'vepositioned themselves in such a way where
(04:30):
they are able to speak into thosesituations, but not just speaking to them,
but actually give in practical ways.I remember a church down in South
Carolina there was there was a needto supply public servants with a certain piece
of gear. And instead of justtalk about it, they just did it.
(04:53):
They went and got these these thesepublic servants exactly what they needed.
So a lot of good things goingon in the megachurches. They are sending
out more people than a lot ofthe other churches when it's sending them out,
sending them out to plant other churches, sending them out into the mission
(05:15):
field, you know, all sortsof great stuff. So my point is
this, guys, and I'm goingto keep it real short for today.
The point is this God is movingin the house church slash micro church realm.
He is moving in the community churches, and he's also moving in the
(05:41):
megachurches. He uses every type ofchurch imaginable. I believe it's his idea.
I believe, you know. Icall them flavors and please don't get
mad me for putting them in thatway. But you know we each or
each of these models have a certainappeal and they will reach somebody. Praise
(06:04):
God for that. Guys, wehave to remember we are team Jesus.
We are on the same team.We're not in competition. Church may look
a little bit different for you,but you know what, here's the main
thing. And as my friend DanyButler says on his radiozation, keep the
main thing the main thing. Andthat's what we need to do when it
(06:24):
comes to church planting, is keepthe main thing the main thing. What
has God called you to do?If He has called you to start a
house church, be obedient. Ifyou know he just told you to start
a church. I just encourage youto take the next step. Don't try
to have it all figured out.A lot of times he won't give you
(06:46):
the entire vision all at one time, but He will give you the next
step. He will direct your steps, and so listen closely. Listen closely,
and then obey fully. And youknow, I am just blessed to
know people in all three of theseareas. But remember this God is working
(07:09):
in all of them, and sobe encouraged. Guys, I'm for you.
God is for you. More importantly, and wherever you find yourself in
the house church movement, in thesmall churches, and that's churches under one
hundred. If you find yourself there, man, I understand that lived in
(07:31):
that space for a long time.Guess what, don't beat yourself up about
that. You are not a failure. You're making a difference. I believe
in you. And again, moreimportantly, God is He's smiling because of
your faithfulness. And so be encouraged. Church planners and pastors and church leaders.
(07:54):
Until next time, God bless you. Keep on keeping on, and
we'll see you on the next podcastof us. You've been listening to the
Church Planting Today podcast with Steve Chagrinand Jeff Hoagland. Be sure to share
and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Connect for free outreach articles, ideas,
and resources at kindness dot com andchurch Planting dot com.
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